NOVEMBER BETWEEN

                                                          

Spring drama and summer booty, now cached,

once again Mother Nature changes hats

and Gaudy October yields

to muted November’s aging fields.

Their many shades of browns and grays

underscore our shortening days.

At the fence, long rows

of brown corn stubble lead

to a spray of empty trees.

         Fans framing space

with limbs,

once lost in summer’s earnest greenery,                  

now, chilled,

reveal the interstitial beauty

of their gray twigged filigree.

Come inside.

Let’s toast nature’s annual evening time;

         Let fall your leaves,

         and sag your sap.

Enjoy Mother Nature’s windy music in the cracks.

We’ll light her logs and pour her wine.

Anticipate.

         She’ll soon unpack

         her stunning winter wardrobe wrap.                        

Dennis R. Keefe

November, 2008

 

LIGHTING VETERANS’ DAY

Our oldest light,

long in dim,

leaped,

recharged,

         Our star shooting through the night,

on veterans’ day

         to a site

         unknowable

         but boldly measured.

“Woke up this mornin’ with my Lord

Hang on, Jesus”

– her Lord of the living and now living with  the Lord –

“Woke up this mornin’ with my Lord . . . “

. . . in that lovely dwelling place

where the Son,

withholding no favors

bestows honor

on mothers
among others.

Another light to magnify the Lord.

Another light illuminating ancient words

that bookmark our lives.                                                                     

Inside, we greet,

view what’s left

and ponder the rest.

Outside, in the night,

Christmas parade lights form,

and stretch the street

back up the hill –

glowing lights

blinking, milling,

building

momentum –

some running mini laps

around girl scouts’ caps                                                                                             

then,

illuminating our holiday choices,

move away

         trailing

                  their

                           effects

                                             through

                                                               town.

Christmas will have its due.

Dennis R. Keefe

Oct. 29, 2019

November 17, 2007

 

PEACHTREE

It's time to acknowledge the end of the show
The last yellow leaves
On our backyard birch
Flutter in the cold
Hanging on for dear life and
Their one chance
To experience snow

Autumn began with my favorite tree
A maple, but to me, a peach
Not the one you stand beneath
But the one you strain to reach
Young, light green with fuzz
And a tinge of red

A tinge that used to lead the way

My autumn omen 
For an evolving color blast

New every year

But not this time

A summer storm wrenched that tree

Not even a stump remains

Its early coloring, a sign it seems
Of disease

Across the street

Favorite number two

Taller

With a magnificent spray of orange

which segue's to black branches
And dead dangling leaves
To spook Halloween

The usual progression did occur

A hard freeze whooshed us through
Brilliant reds

And gorgeous oranges and yellows

On the trees 

 

And underneath for a day or two

Then, browned, piled and kicked around

They traveled with the wind from yard to yard

DRK

11/9/19

 HALLOWEEN, 2015

In two hours the magic disappears
Final chance, kids -- decide and make it good
How best to treat the ‘hood
Six to eight p.m. — until next year

Two hours of
Mom and dad, toddlers in tow
Not sure who
But recognize candy being shared

Grade-schoolers on their own
Kid time, peak time
Imagine that!  Imagine this!
It doesn’t get any better than
Bats!  And mischief!

Older ‘tweens chauffeured in, on the make
Know precisely why and how
A science to them
Reports will follow

Two hours and Halloween’s oddities
. . . In the way
But the holiday season is still young

Anticipating turkey fun

Boo!  Y’hear?

DRK
11/3/19

 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

HALLOWEEN, 2022

 

The big buzz, early

Neighborhood kids, the littlest ones, parents in tow

Seem to know

It's special

Costumes 

Treats

And adult reactions 

 

Fun

Serious fun

 

We don’t neighbor enough  

Sure, their lives, busy  

But now at my front door

 

Night of opportunity

Encourage the magic 

Kids visiting a different world

Ask each one about theirs

Stretched kids' imaginations

            When did I stop exercising mine?

 

All Hallows Eve, thanks for the opportunity

Lighting pumpkins

Lighting anything, doing whatever

To add some magic

 

Eventually, too dark

Even for spooks

 

Look, leftovers

A Kit Kat bar, a Rice Krispies treat

Skittles and chocolate covered mints

 

Damn, it was fun

 

October 31

DRK

 

WE CALL IT FALL

 

From our porch’s three seasons venue

The usual autumn views

But Erato prods

What’s new?

Wind rifling our trees

Being neighborly with our colors

The gravity of this situation

Does make me wonder

Is this why we call it “fall?”

 

Up the hill

Sunlight highlights the kill

Tall trees' rotting leaves

Obit

A color blast to remember

The end of October

And early November

 

Many songbirds will disappear

They sensed what looms

And will, as snowbirds do, warm their cheer

 

We do welcome

The hardy juncos

And other up-north visitors

With heated water

And stable food supplies

 

Their winter presence

We celebrate

 

With one caveat

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

It can be dangerous

Inside our house

 

DRK

10/4/23

   OCTOBER LITANY

October’s winds, blowing in
Another winter

Practice now with leaves
Challenge the snow later

Stir me up and get me out

Snow blower and shovels ready?
    Lord help me prepare
Lawnmower?
    Lord, stow it where?
Paint or caulk?
    Lord, help me prepare
Windows, doors, weather stripping?
    Lord, help me secure
Snow tires?
    Lord, help me prepare

Gutters checked?
    Lord, keep them clear
Plants to bring in
     Lord, they’ll need some care

Windshield scraper, I left where?
    Lord, help me remember
The heated bird bath?
    Lord, it will soon be December
Firewood ordered?
    Lord, help me remember
Hoses put away?
    Lord, I could have done that in September



DRK
5/2/16

   OCTOBER BLIZZARD

Lacy locust leaves
Yellow October blizzard
Expectations swirl

DRK 10/19/15

  WATCHING THE FROST MELT ON MY NEIGHBOR’S ROOF


Sunshine lights our morning room,
enhancing colors, muted
after noon.

Across the street, facing west,
her house, next in line, for the October sun
to warm its roof.
By eight a toe-hold gained,
then a northward march
across the expanse of flat
frosted white.

One cup of coffee
and today’s work is done.
Her roof, returned to shingle tint.
Our room, again in shade.
The sun, arcing on,
risks being less
without one man’s regard.

DRK
Oct. 26, 2012

 

THE SOUND OF HARVEST

HINT:  NOT SILENCE

 

Did you hear it?

The clatter-whump of walnuts 

One minute, hidden up there

The next,

One hundred and forty-one

From tree to grass in seconds

Awesome

Carole counted as she raked, picked

And stored in a yard waste bin

Wait.  Twenty one more in the flower beds

 

The tree sighed in relief

Mission done, nuts on the ground

A gazillion leaves on the way

See you in the spring

 

DRK

9/20/23

 

 

GHOSTS IN THE QUAD

We                                                         

drift in unseen

to view vacant places

when others leave.

Podiums, distinguished chairs,

or various labs –

once our commands –

now, haunts,

hallowed campus spaces

through which we used to volley

lectures, handouts,                                  

and other old tools of the trade

at targets

claiming to seek betterment.                

Now we catch our wind,       

amazed at today’s ways

passing through

our faded substance.

                              

With no grindstones to nose,

we enjoy the pleasures

of gardens, bookstores, libraries,

old pathways and cafes, 

and scavenge for hints of the leavings,

we once thought useful –

enough to will to a future –

which now requests

money.      

DRK

7/29/09
7/7/16

 

HIGH SUMMER HARVEST

 

First walnut of the year

Up the driveway with squirrel

Seeking to secure

Under the tree in front of me 

But rodent muster

Not passed

Ditto,  the zebra grass 

Around the corner

 

Frozen entree in January?

Or seedling for the new year? 

 

DRK

8/26/20

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE CALL IT FALL

 

From our porch’s three seasons venue

The usual autumn views

But Erato prods

What’s new?

Wind rifling our trees

Being neighborly with our colors

The gravity of this situation

Does make me wonder

Is this why we call it “fall?”

 

Up the hill

Sunlight highlights the kill

Tall trees' rotting leaves

Obit

A color blast to remember

The end of October

And early November

 

Many songbirds will disappear

They sensed what looms

And will, as snowbirds do, warm their cheer

 

We do welcome

The hardy juncos

And other up-north visitors

With heated water

And stable food supplies

 

Their winter presence

We celebrate

 

With one caveat

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

It can be dangerous

Inside our house

 

DRK

10/4/23

 

SEDUM RED

 

Sedum red

Sedum red

Put to bed

Mosquitoes

And this muggy-

Ness

 

If you please

Turn the leaves

We’ll chill

Six months or so

No less

 

 

DRK

9/10/21

 

 

SEPTEMBER SENSE

 

High summer inches toward dog days

And low autumn

The breeze coming through the screens

Rattles the dried up leaves still clinging to the maple tree 

October, a few days away

Warns, take this opportunity

To enjoy light

Laced through walnut and locust leaves

 

I imagine them counting down the weeks

Maybe days

'Til colder winds

Move only conifers and limbs

A different sound, indeed

Frost is next

My heated birdbath's first test

 

DRK

9/23/20

 

 

 MY WIFE

multiplies life.

    Beware her fertile ground
    or grow.

Children top
but don’t exhaust
her list.

In need,
the one they call.

Indeed,
anticipates,
calls.

The rest of us know

God’s good deal.

    The two, in league,
    unwritten,
    nods, winks.
 
    Warm rains
    freshen her gardens

    Bring butterflies. 

     
Tend-er.

DRK
6/18/13